Partial Design Process These resources engage students in some of the steps in the engineering design process,
but do not have them complete the full process. While some of these resources may focus heavily on the brainstorm and design steps,
others may emphasize the testing and analysis phases.

Curricular Unit:Service-Based Engineering Design Projects

Contributed by: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado Boulder

Summary

This unit describes a general approach to guiding students to complete service-based engineering design projects, with specific examples provided in detail as associated activities. With your class, brainstorm ideas for engineering designs that benefit your community or a specific person in your community. Then, guided by the steps of the engineering design process, have students research to understand background science and math, meet their client to understand the problem, and create, test and improve prototype devices. Note that service-based projects often take more time to prepare, especially if you arrange for a real client. However, the authors notice that students of both genders and all ethnicities tend to respond with more enthusiasm and interest to altruistic projects.
This engineering curriculum meets Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Engineering Connection

The real world is teeming with opportunities for people, including engineers, to apply their expertise to helping others and improving our general and specific quality of life. This is the very nature of engineering. The work of engineers directly impacts the lives of people in their communities (shelters, playgrounds, water treatment plants, heating and cooling devices, bridges, medical devices, etc.). The associated activity examples engage students in designing prototype devices to help the authors' local community members, but the same approach applies more broadly to teams following the steps of the engineering design process as they come up with solutions to service-based engineering challenges that benefit specific people in their communities and/or society at large.

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In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics;
within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
(Grades 9 - 12)
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The design process includes defining a problem, brainstorming, researching and generating ideas, identifying criteria and specifying constraints, exploring possibilities, selecting an approach, developing a design proposal, making a model or prototype, testing and evaluating the design using specifications, refining the design, creating or making it, and communicating processes and results.
(Grades 9 - 12)
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Unit Overview

This project works well as a semester-long project in a high school engineering class or elective course. Arrange for a real-world client, or create a hypothetical service-based opportunity (perhaps using one of the associated activities). Then, have students follow the steps of the engineering design process while they attempt to solve the open-ended problem, with the main objective to build working prototypes.

Assessment

Pre/Post Quiz: Personalize the concept inventory, Example Pre/Post Quiz Answers, with topics pertinent to your class' service-based engineering project. Make a blank quiz version without the answers. Before beginning the project, have students complete the quiz. At project completion, have students take the same quiz, comparing their results to their pre-project scores to gauge their knowledge gains.

Contributors

Copyright

Supporting Program

Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado Boulder

Acknowledgements

This digital library content was developed by the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program under National Science Foundation GK-12 grant no. 0338326. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.